No Mercy
by Libquedation
Summary: The four survivors made it across the street. Now they need to get to Mercy Hospital, which seems impossible considering they are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
1. Prologue

"Hold up." Bill's gruff voice echoed through the small alley the only known survivors were standing in. He looked at the decaying bodies of torn up infected, or zombies as Zoey had started calling them. Green slime was laced all over them. Bill bent down and placed his fingers in the muck, rubbing them together. "Never seen anything like this before."

"Jesus, don't let that stop you from smearing it all over yourself." Biker boy Francis put his two cents worth in. Bill angrily stood up and forcefully wiped his hand across Francis's black leather vest.

"They're changing." Bill pushed Francis aside and continued walking down the alley.

"Aw! Damnit Bill it stinks!" Louis and Zoey chuckled at the exchange between the two, but continued on after Bill. Zoey pulled up at point next to him. She abruptly stopped as a faint sobbing could be heard.

"Someone's still alive." Zoey crouched down, pistols cocked and ready to shoot as Bill slid the door open, slowly and carefully, Francis and Louis taking watch in the alley.

Zoey flicked on the flashlight duck taped to her left hand pistol, waving it around the small storage room. "Hello?"

"Hello?" She and Bill advanced forward. Zoey saw a flicker of movement, and turning her flashlight over to the sobbing, she steadily saw more and more of what looked to be a human girl. "It's okay. We're going-"

A flash of lightning illuminated the room for a second, and Bill's military trained eye noticed the familiar grey body of a zombie as the light danced around the room for a moment.

"Light's off!" he did the teenage whisper-yell. They slowly backed away, trying to not make a sound as they skirted across the floor to the exit.

Outside, Francis and Louis heard in the distance, running. It was getting louder too. The fog cleared for a moment, and they saw what looked to be a whole horde running in their direction.

"Shit! Shit!" Louis ran into the storage room as Francis began picking off the infected a few at a time with his shotgun. Louis's flashlight danced in the room, until it landed on the grizzly form of an infected woman sitting in the corner. The sobs changed instantaneously to growls, and her glowing red eyes turned on Louis.

"What the?"

"Run like hell!" Zoey and Bill shot out of the room, almost running over Louis, who slammed the door shut, leaning his tall frame against the door. A sharp impact made a huge dent, and another bang showed a grey arm with foot long nails protruding out of the door. Louis yelled and unloaded his whole clip into the hole in the door, staying clear of the arm which flailed wildly.

Zoey was crouched on the ground, shooting madly with her pistols at the horde, Bill taking close shots, and Francis was butting the infected away, only to turn around and shoot their heads off.

Bill reached into his belt to yank out another clip, but a long, pink slithery thing wrapped itself around Bill, constricting him. Using the air he had left, Bill yelled a few feeble helps, his voice drowned out by pain and the horde. Francis looked back, and noticed a gruesome infected with boils and a long tongue on a fire escape, its tongue around Bill.

Francis shot his shotgun into the thing's face, which instantly made it die, the tongue unwrapping Bill and dropping him onto the ground. Francis ran over to help him up, and as he got Bill to stand, was rushed at by two zombies. He shot the one to his left, then went one handed in shooting the last one on his right.

"Merry Christmas."

The four immune looked around at the carnage that littered the alleyway. It reeked of decay, and Zoey coughed, holding her sleeve up to cover her nose and mouth.

A faint whirr of a chopper's blades cut through the silent night, and Louis's eyes darted up into the sky, following a huge light attached to its front.

"Hey!!! We're not infected! Hey!" He ran out of the alley, following the chopper into the street, only to have it turn away and fly down the street and around a skyscraper.

"Goddamnit." He turned around, only to be pounced on by an infected in a hooded sweatshirt. His yells cut through the city, and as Zoey was the closest one, she lowered her shoulder and rushed the zombie, knocking it off of Louis, shooting her dual pistols in its chest, Louis taking his out and joining her. It slumped back onto a white car, and its piercing alarm echoed in the street.

"This is going to get bad." murmured Bill. The four arranged themselves in a square shape, Zoey and Louis facing the chain link fence, Francis and Bill the intersection.

Shadows moved across the buildings, the shadows of the running. Screams ricocheted off of them, echoing in the survivor's ears. Francis steeled himself as he heard more infected climbing the fence behind him.

Suddenly, a loud roar cut through the other's, and a car seemingly picked itself up and was hurled their way, barely missing Zoey as it collapsed into the fence. They turned their heads and looked in surprise. A large infected was running their direction, different than any other ones. It was a huge, sinewy beast, with bulky arms, a small head, a huge torso, and its skin glowed a nasty pink. It ran like a gorilla, on its hands more than its legs. Its hands and arms crushed any zombies in its way as it barreled on towards the humans.

"Run or shoot?" Louis's voice cut in, a little frantic as they began backing up. "Run or shoot?!?" He asked again, this time it was more like a yell.

"Both!" The four ran, Zoey in front, the rest shooting their guns over their shoulders at the beast that threatened to run them down.

_Lovely another alley. _Zoey thought angrily. "Get to the roof!" Louis pointed to a ladder that they had all missed before. Zoey jumped, catching the ladder and basically ran her way up it.

"Go!" Francis jumped onto a crushed car, leveling his shotgun to his eye. "Come on, come on!" He seemed to be challenging the great brute as it turned a corner. Louis scurried up the ladder, and Bill whirled around, shooting at the thing as Francis fell, giving it a good distraction as Francis took the opportunity to climb up the fire escape himself.

The huge infected fell into the building's wall, somehow picking up a huge slab of concrete and hurling it with extreme force onto the fire escape, almost nailing Francis and Louis.

Bill whipped around, forgetting about his gun for a second, and ran over to the ladder. "Go! I'll hold them off." At Zoey's voice and her precise shooting, he climbed the ladder, two rungs at a time. The large infected wouldn't have that however, and he tore down pieces of the fire escape at once.

He jumped onto the ledge Zoey was standing on, shaking her, making her left hand pistol fly onto the ground. As the 'tank' pulled her ledge down, Zoey ran and jumped, barely missing the roof.

"Francis!" She shrieked as she fell, his hand catching hers. She dangled there for a second as they watched the fire escape land on and crush all of the infected with a final collective moan.

Francis pulled up Zoey, Louis helping him deposit her onto the roof.

"We made it. I can't believe we made it." An elated Louis threw out between gasps.

"Son we just made it across the street." Bill took a drag on a newly lit cigarette. "Let's not throw a party until we are out of the city." That dampened the mood, and as the survivors stood up, they walked to the street edge of the building and looked out below about ten stories.

Hundreds of infected stood stupidly under the glow of the Mercy Hospital sign.

**I am in the process of a major Left 4 Dead addiction, and I wanted to write a story based on the No Mercy campaign, so yeah. Review please. **


	2. The Apartments

Zoey panted as she sat on the rooftop of the apartment building. Her mind was racing, trying to think of anything other than the people she had killed could have been people she knew in her former life; the life before the infection hit.

A senior in the community college, Zoey had spent most of her time skipping class, going to the local paintball/air soft range, and watching horror movies. In fact, she was bound to get kicked out of college any day before the infection hit.

The day it did was the day she was going to leave behind Mercy City Community College.

She did get to leave, but it was on terms immensely different from what she had hoped for. She had to jump out of her second story dorm room just to get free of the infected that were waiting outside her barricaded door.

Living on nothing in a safe room near a grocery store for a few days, Zoey had taken the chance to go out and get some food. There she had met Bill, Louis, and Francis, the odd assortment of company that had all been together at a bar just a few blocks down the street.

"Zoey." At the sound of her name, she stood up shakily and walked over to the table underneath the blue tarp. She minded the giant white S.O.S. sign, and leaned against the table. Francis looked up at her from where he was reloading and quickly cleaning his shotgun.

"Dumb piece of shit. Got zombie blood all up in her. Now I'll never get a good shot out." Zoey smirked and leaned across the table to Francis.

"That's bullshit. You and Bill are the best shots here and you know it. Hell, if I had any money, I'd bet that you could pick off 100 infected with that thing still."

Francis gave Zoey a small smile. Zoey felt her heart do a little flip as she realized that only she had the power to make him reveal the true Francis beneath the bad ass biker that he seemed to be.

"Come on you two. We don't got all day." Bill's voice cut through the moment, and Zoey hastily grabbed a med kit and slung it onto her back like a backpack. She reached over and grabbed the smallest gun in sight; the semi automatic. Taking a hand full of clips, she threw some of them in the already stuffed med kit, but put two in her pockets.

Zoey jumped down from the table and strode over to where Bill and Louis were standing in front of the door that led to the top level of apartments. Francis jogged over, his normal I-can-kick-your-scrawny-ass look on his face. He placed his hand on the doorknob, and at Bill's quick nod, flung the door open, catching it before it hit the wall.

Bill led, automatic cocked and raised at eye level. Louis followed, his trigger happy fingers twitching at every sound. His automatic was thrown across his back, his pistol in hand instead. Zoey and Francis took the rear, Francis keeping his shotgun at the ready, and Zoey keeping her semi close by.

She let out a small squeak as Bill shot three times in succession, the ringing in her ears taking a while to get used to. Even after 2 weeks of nothing but shooting at close quarters, it still managed to freak her out as the first shot was fired, breaking the silence.

More growls and inhuman moans were heard and Zoey broke past Louis to crouch in the bloodstained kitchen, her gun yelling its own notes into the zombies. She stood up, walking over the bodies and past the TV that hummed, static burning her ears. She waited in the doorway, then spun around it to fire off a round into a zombie's chest. She quickly opened the bathroom door and peered inside, checking even behind the curtain for the occasional naked zombie.

When Zoey turned around, she noticed the guys were gone. "down here Zoey." She shot out of the bathroom and past the hallway to look through the door. It was a stairwell. Francis was waiting for her, and she shot him a meek thanks as she followed him downstairs.

"How the hell did this happen?" A white van was halfway through the building, its headlights on, causing the white room to be awfully blinding. Zoey shaded her eyes and walked by the van to catch up with Bill and Louis. They were staring down the hallway. Zoey opened her mouth as to question why when Bill hastily threw his hand over her mouth.

"Listen." Straining her ears to hear, Zoey caught the cough of what they had deemed a Smoker.

"Damnit." She hissed. "That thing could get one of us." Louis gave her a look.

"Well obviously." She shot him a glare, but continued on down the hallway. She saw little light in the next room, but cocked her gun, spun, and fired blindly in the direction of the awful cough and yell combination. A horrendous shriek and a puff of green smoke later, Zoey could see the Smoker was dead.

"Come on. Move your lazy asses. We gotta get to Mercy Hospital." Zoey darted through the room, only to shriek and get pounced on. The Hunter was pinning her onto the unforgiving ground, sharp claws slicing through her arms. The pain was unbearable and Zoey knew without a second's thought that if this thing wasn't off of her soon, she would be dead.

"Eat this fucker." A whole clip was unloaded into the Hunter, and Francis checked Zoey. Cuts ran up and down the lengths of her arms. "Damn." Zoey hissed as Francis unloaded rubbing alcohol onto the cuts, rolling up her sleeves and wrapping the bandages over the cuts. Francis yanked Zoey to her feet, but making sure she was steady before turning back around and heading to the next room.

"Well fuck." Zoey followed Francis and looked down to see a large, gaping hole in the floor. Zombies were standing around, but as her flashlight hit them, they growled and jumped, so that they were climbing into the room.

"Shit!" Louis yelped as one of the zombie infected managed to climb up and rush in his direction. Zoey whirled around and shot the zombie dead in the chest. It gave a final groan and fell in a heap at Louis's feet. Zoey wrinkled her nose.

"Let's go." Francis jumped down into the room, and immediately started shooting in the other direction, under their feet. Louis and Bill leapt down, and with a last glance over her shoulder, Zoey followed.

Zoey slipped, losing her balance and falling flat on her butt. This was followed by hoots of laughter from all three men. Zoey pushed herself to her feet and glared. "Shut up before I hit you again Francis." She hissed through her teeth, brushing past them into the next room. She ran through the doors, and busted into the next room.

It was darker and Zoey flicked the flashlight on, only to be met face to face with a zombie. She shrieked and whacked it with the butt of her gun. She flipped her gun around to shoot it, only to have the guys shoot it first.

"Thanks for stealing my kill." Bill grunted and brushed by her to the exit.

"Please it was already half dead." Louis interjected, lying a hand on Zoey's shoulder. She looked at Louis with a strange expression on her face.

"They were people so it makes no difference. It was still a kill in my book." She shrugged out of Louis's grip and walked to the exit, following Bill.

"What the hell was that?" Louis asked Francis. He simply shrugged and followed the other two.

Zoey looked around. The quarantine chain link fences were blocking all except one exit route. She ran down the alley, shooting the few infected who got in her way. They reached the end of the alleyway, and Zoey bent down on one knee and started shooting.

Up and down the street about 50 of the infected. Zoey cursed as her semi ran out of ammo. She spun around and ran back the alley to see if anyone had a pipe bomb left.

Seeing as though Francis still had one clipped to his belt, Zoey whirled around and yanked it off, running back to the street and activated the pip bomb.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" she yelled. Zoey watched as the zombies rushed to the device. She looked over her shoulder to see Francis looking at her with an odd look on his face. However, once he saw her looking, he instantly looked away, and shot the stray zombie that was climbing one of the fences.

"Let's go. From the rumors there should be a safe house up this way. It leads into the subway." Francis stated. He started off, Louis and Bill following him. Zoey jumped up and ran after them, watching their backs.

"Get your asses in here!" Francis yelled from downstairs. Zoey ran down after them, the heat from a fire making her press against the wall. She looked until she saw Francis standing in the doorway of a familiar red steel door.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Zoey walked past Francis into the safe room, and collapsed on top of one of the sleeping bags. She turned around and watched as Francis took one last look around, and yanked the heavy door shut. Francis and Louis pulled a heavy desk and some file cabinets over the door, barring the way of any wandering zombies.

"You okay?" Francis bent down beside Zoey and placed a hand on her shoulder, much like how Louis had done not so long ago. Zoey looked away, shaking her head.

"No." she whispered. Francis placed a hand under her chin and made her look at him.

"Where?" Zoey looked at Francis, then pulled up her shirt a little to reveal a wicked gash along her stomach. It was bleeding profusely. "When did you get that?"

"Hunter." She whispered.

"Let me bandage it up." Francis whipped out rubbing alcohol to cleanse it and a thick bandage.

"OW! SHIT, FUCK, OUCH!" Zoey yelped as Francis rubbed the gash, clean.

"If you two are done, can we eat something and get some sleep?" Bill asked, taking a drag.

"I'm okay Francis. Thanks." Zoey looked Francis in the eye, then gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"What's for dinner?" She asked, standing up and tenderly walking over to the shelf.

**For each chapter, there is going to be a character and a level in the campaign seen from their point of view. Please review, it makes me smile. **


	3. The Subway

The moans and groans of the infected could be heard throughout the safe room. Francis shifted in his chair and rolled his eyes. He hated being on watch. Actually he hated the infected.

Na, he hated everything this life had thrown at him so far.

Being bored out of his mind, and having nothing to do, Francis walked over to the table which had ammunition and guns strewn across it haphazardly. He took a generous amount of ammo for his shotgun, walked back over to his chair, and proceeded to reload and clean his gun with a loving hand.

Hard to believe a big biker like him with nothing left could be a survivor. Then again, its hard to believe all four of them were immune to the disease that had murdered the world.

Francis fidgeted. He didn't like watch one bit, and the creepy moans of the zombies could be heard from outside the red steel door. His finger gave an involuntary twitch, as if pulling on the trigger of his shotgun. He scowled and turned his gaze to the other side of the room, where everyone else was sleeping. Louis lay with his arm flung across his gun, mouth wide open, snores coming out. Bill sat with his back against the wall, hand on his Uzi, softly breathing. Finally, Zoey was curled up in the only other chair, her pistols in their holsters. Francis couldn't tear his eyes away from her face.

Granted, he had a bad reputation with women, but that was in the past, the past that no longer existed. He didn't care about that anymore. Killing the zombies was something he was good at, and he didn't hate it surprisingly. He did hate Bill and Louis sometimes, but never Zoey.

A loud shriek pierced through his thoughts and Francis instantly jumped to his feet, everyone else startled out of their dreams. He turned to see one of the infected desperately trying to claw its way into the room. He lifted his gun, only to have his kill stolen. The head blew up, making blood explode onto Francis.

"Holy shit! Who the hell did that?" He growled, his voice angry as he tried to wipe the blood and brains off of his vest and face. He glared at the others, noticing the way Zoey's pistol was slightly smoking.

"Good shot. I think we better get our asses out of here before more of those fuckers come and try and get us."

"You're right son, for once. Let's get the hell outa here." Bill gruffly said, skirting past Francis and throwing the door open.

"Well, isn't this going to be fun." Murmured Louis.

Before the survivors was a gaping hole in the floor that led to the subway station. The air ducts were accessible, and there were large fires all around. More of the infected stumbled around, but at the sound of the survivors, they instantly got up and started trying to climb onto the ledge. Francis and Bill shot them all down, including the zombies on the ground lying around.

Francis's eyes darted around as he looked for the safest way down onto the ground. A ledge across the hole caught his attention, and he backed up, ran, and jumped onto it.

"Francis!" He whipped around when his name was called, seeing Zoey with her pistols pointed at him.

"Lower those guns missy." he ground out threateningly.

"Duck idiot." Francis whirled around to see a zombie leaning his forehead against the wall. Twirling his shotgun, and releasing the safety, Francis shot the man in the back. He instantly fell in a puddle of his own blood.

"That was definitely my kill." Zoey growled, glaring at Francis. He smirked and motioned down.

"Ladies first." Zoey jumped and landed lightly on the balls of her feet.

"Behind you!" Yelled Louis, causing Zoey to spin and quickly knock back an infected who had been previously running at her. Francis leapt down and shot several zombies on sight, including the one that had been running after Zoey.

"Let's go." Francis spun on his heel and started down the stairs to the subway station. There were only a few infected that they had to pick off.

"This way is blocked." Zoey stated. Francis looked. She was right. The stairwells on their right were caved in.

"This way." Called Bill. Francis pushed against the little barriers, only to realize that they were frozen in place. Grunting in frustration, Francis backed up and jumped over the barriers, checking to make sure Zoey made it over.

The survivors silently made their way up the next flight of stairs. There was no infected, yet. They jumped into the subway car and made their way to the end.

"There's a Boomer." Francis held up his hand and carefully walked out of the car to check the Boomer's position. The short walls of the subway tunnel left Francis with no choice other than walk out to the next platform where he could scope for the Boomer.

At a horrible smell and the sound of a gurgle, Francis whipped around only to be face to face with Boomer barf.

"Awww!" He yelled, attempting to wipe the green bile off his mouth and eyes. He flinched at the familiar sound of a horde advancing at the smell of the barf. He turned and shot the Boomer, causing it to explode in a cloud of crimson. "Damnit! Get over here!" He yelled as he barely saw the first zombies of the Boomer-induced horde close in on him.

Francis raised his shotgun and began whacking the infected. He didn't want to shoot, for the fear of hitting one of his teammates was imminent when you cannot see. He felt the zombies fall at every gun shot that echoed in the subway tunnel.

"All gone." Whispered Zoey as she walked over to Francis. "Can you see now? How many fingers am I holding up?" She raised her hand and Francis smirked.

"Three."

"Correct."

"Come on guys, let's go before we attract another horde. God knows we need another one." Bill snarled before walking past the subway car that had fallen onto its side, onto the platform.

"Ammo here!" Yelled Louis. Francis and Zoey shared a glance and dashed up onto the platform to the ammo table that sat next to an almost intact subway car. Francis hastily shot an infected that was on the inside, and grabbed more shells.

God knows they all need it.

"Ready?" Francis lowered his voice as more moans reached his sensitive ears. He looked ay Zoey. She nodded.

"Ready." She sounded confident as ever, but Francis detected a faint waver in her voice.

"Ready." Louis and Bill crowed simultaneously. Francis rolled his eyes at the creepiness and continued on. He looked behind each of the rectangular pillars, checking for infected or worse, a Tank.

He slowly walked onto a totally lit subway car that was swarming with infected. Two shots of his shotgun and they were all dead. He continued until he saw the end of the tracks; it was a cave in blocking their way.

"Damnit." He cursed. Zoey's shoulders visibly slumped as she saw the blockage. Then her eyes brightened and Francis felt something he hadn't felt for a long time.

"This way guys." She motioned forward and Francis then saw the door. He walked over, jumping onto the platform, and grabbed the doorknob.

"It's locked." He grumbled, pissed that their only way out was blocked.

"Do it this way Francis." Zoey gently moved him out of the way and shot the doorknob with her pistols.

"Thanks." Francis whispered as he pushed the door down and stumbled through. "Oh look, more stairs. I hate stairs." He obnoxiously said as the foursome walked up the stairs and looked at the wide space that was **full **of infected.

"Come on." Louis shouldered past everyone to kneel in front of them. He instantly began picking them off one by one with his hunting rifle. Louis usually used his pistols, but when the time was right, he wasn't a bad shot with his hunting rifle. The story was that when he was younger his dad would take him hunting a lot. Granted he wasn't the best shot at all, for he usually wanted to shoot anything, but he was useful.

As the infected realized that someone was shooting into their ranks, they began their sprinting to the survivors. Francis shot them all down.

"Gross! Damn zombie brains!" Zoey wiped her face on her arm. She shot Francis a glare and he gave her the traditional "What?" look. She smiled and the group continued their slow pace through the room.

"Hey look at this!" Zoey cried. Next to a small closet door, was the corpse of a soldier. Francis grimaced on the inside at the smell and the blood. But that wasn't what Zoey was interested in. She bent down and Francis's eyes instantly fell to her jeans.

When Zoey straightened up, in her hand was a pipe bomb and a Molotov. She offered the Molotov to Francis, and he took it, strapping it to his belt.

"Come on, let's get to the next safe room. It can't be that far away." With that, Zoey turned to the lighted exit and walked onto some more stairs. The men followed her. Once they cleared the stairs, they found themselves in a huge generator room. It was quite dark, but Francis looked around with eyes that were accustomed to dark places.

You see, he was notorious for not paying his electric bill on time, hence he would be left in the dark until he did.

Anyway, he spotted off on their right what looked like a stand off point. There were bodies of infected and of humans lying in messy heaps. But that wasn't what they were interested in. It was the huge gun that sat behind a barrier. It also was the fact that there was a red emergency medical box on the wall.

Francis hoisted himself up onto the wooden boxes that were stacked up around the doorway. He began walking over to the gun, but a familiar crying stopped him dead in his tracks.

Witch.

As if confirming his thoughts, Louis cried out "Witch!" Francis's eyes looked around wildly until his eyes fell on the hideous gray-red skin of the zombie in question. She was sitting right behind the gun.

"Damn. We can't get anything from there now." Francis sneered as he walked by the gun and the barrier. He ended up standing in front of what looked like a garage door.

"This is the only way out." Bill stated, taking a quick drag on his cigarette.

"Hey, look at this." Zoey called from the buttons that opened the door. Written on the wall in what looked suspiciously like blood, was a message. It read "The horde will come." Zoey turned to Francis.

"When we open this door, which of course is our only damn way out, there will be a horde. The door probably makes a lot of noise."

"Shit." Louis hung his head a little, fingering the trigger on his Uzi.

"No matter. We will stand over there. It looks like there's a tank of gas over there. We can shoot it, making it explode in flames, and then the stupid vampires can't get to us until the fire goes away. By then, I think the door should be open enough for us to slide through by then." Francis gestured to a corner off to their left, then back to the door.

"You know, that actually might work…"Bill trailed off.

"Then let's do it." Zoey walked over to the corner, Bill and Francis following her, taking protective positions in front of her.

"What about me?" cried Louis from where he was still standing in front of the door.

"You are the official button presser." Francis shot back, earning himself a glare from Louis and a hit on the shoulder from Zoey. "Just hit the fucking button pussy."

Louis hit the button and dashed over to the trio, standing next to Zoey, behind Bill, his back against the wall. The lights flashed on and a loud creaking of the door followed by an alarm echoed through Francis's head. He grimaced as the sounds of running infected washed over him.

"Hold formation!" Yelled Bill as the first of the infected dropped from above, spinning to run back at the survivors. Francis frantically beat away at them, wincing as they brutally his arms.

"Shoot them damnit!" He cried as more infected rained down on them. He faintly heard the sobbing of the witch off in her corner. Francis also felt rather than heard Zoey follow his orders. Soon, no infected were left.

They al cautiously walked over to the door, steering clear of the still crying witch. "Can I shoot her just to shut her up?" Francis asked. Bill rolled his eyes.

"Only if you want to die son." Francis scowled and walked up the stairs to the door that marked their escape.

"Ammo!" He yelled, giddy at the fact he could replenish what he lost. He waited until everyone was ready, then walked out the exit.

"This way!" He cried over his shoulder as he continued down the hallway to more stairs. "Fuck it." With that, Francis jumped.

"Francis!" Zoey cried as his feet hit the floor at the end of the stairs.

"What?"

"You dumbass! You could have broken your ankles, or better yet, landed on your head or back and broken your spine!" She shouted.

"Hey, hey relax Zoey. I'm fine. Do not attract any zombies AGAIN." Zoey shut her mouth at that, but looked furious.

"You are dead meat mister." She mouthed at Francis. He gave her a big smile, to which she glared. She shouldered past Francis and walked past him, turning the corner. Her high pitched scream made Francis break into a sprint. Zoey was being beaten by a Smoker. Francis instantly shot it in the head, it exploding in a cloud of green smoke.

Francis bent down next to Zoey, gently pulling her to her feet. "You okay?" He felt relief as she nodded.

"Just going to have a few bruises on my arms. No harm done." She turned to the glass doors that were in front of them. She peeked out and looked down the street. When Zoey turned her head back, she had mixed emotions on her face.

"There's good news and bad news. The good news is that there is a safe house right down the street. The bad news is that there is a freaking crap load of zombies between here and there."

"Don't you have a pipe bomb smartie?" I asked sarcastically. Zoey looked down to her belt and then at me.

"Forgot." She yanked it off her belt and whirled around, activating the bomb, and chucked it out the window. Instantly, the zombies turned around and began fighting over who got to be first to play with the shiny toy.

"Run!" Louis yelled. Then Francis noticed what he had seen. A car with the emergency burglar alarm lights flashing. Immediately, the four sprinted past the pipe bomb horde.

"Here!" Zoey cried as they made it to the front door of the storage unit. She tried to yank the door open, but it was stuck shut. Francis smirked and shot the huge glass window, shattering the glass. "I could have done that." Zoey mumbled.

"Then why didn't you?" Francis barked at her. He got a smack on the chest for that.

"Everyone GET INSIDE!" Louis cried as the pipe bomb went off behind us, the car alarm screeching into the dark night along with the yells and footsteps of an oncoming horde. Francis shot a quick glance behind him and Zoey, then frantically grabbed her arm and dragged her into the safe room with him. Louis slammed and locked the door as the first zombies reached them.

"Pile this against the door!" Bill yelled, pushing a couch against the door. Francis pushed Zoey off to the side, grabbing a file cabinet and shoving it against the door as the scratches and sounds grew outside. Louis contributed, shoving a heavy potted plant in the way, and then a small bookshelf.

"There, that should do it." Bill brushed off his hands and sat down on a wooden box. "Now, let's see if there's any grub around here that is still edible. After we are done, I'll take first watch."

**This was a super long chapter, perfect for the super long level in the No Mercy campaign. I know it took me super long to update, but I had to play No Mercy at least ten times just to memorize the levels, and I STILL cannot picture it just yet. It sucks. Anyway, please review my story. **


	4. The Sewer

**So here it is. The sewer. Possibly the longest, most annoying level in the No Mercy campaign. I certainly have died plenty of times from numerous Tanks, Witches I was tricked into startling, stuff like that. This chapter will be more Louis perspective. Now, just a heads up, I do not like Louis that much because when I play, he is the CPU and the most annoying fool on the planet. Just saying. Anyway, please review people. Thanks. **

Louis wrapped up his arm and looked around the safe room. Blank, stark, with a few writings on the walls. He scratched his face and picked up a Sharpie from the floor.

"Teresa, I am here, I am safe. We are on our way to Mercy Hospital for evac. Stay safe. Love, Louis." He wrote on a blank spot of the wall.

"You do realize there is little chance of her being alive right? You also realize that there is a smaller chance of her already being evacuated right?" Francis huffed. Louis shot him a glare.

"I have hope." Was all he managed to get out of his mouth. He looked over as Bill stood up, gun reloaded and beret firmly strapped on his head.

"Let's go people, before it gets light out." Louis watched as Zoey, with Francis's help, pushed open the heavy metal door, shooting an infected right in their path. Louis shut the safe room door as they walked out and through a warehouse, shooting the infected as they went.

"Hey, I got a Molotov over here!" Louis yelped from the corner of the room. He turned to follow everyone else, but almost got run over by a female infected. His gun jerked up by itself it seemed, and it shot the female in the head, exploding her brains all over Zoey.

"Oh ick!" She grimaced, wiping the brains off of her hunting rifle.

"Sorry." Louis brushed by Zoey and made his way out of the storage room, making a left past a backed up truck.

"It's a fucking maze back here. I hate mazes." Francis grumbled as he pushed by Zoey to lead them into the ever popular burger joint. Louis watched as Francis shot three infected that were standing in the doorway, then as he made his way into the fast food restaurant.

Louis sighed and followed them. He never really got used to the fact that their world was in ruins now. It felt like a dream ever since he got separated from Teresa, his finance, in the rush as people tried to get out of the city. He only vaguely remembered the rush in which he had met Francis and Bill, then when they had saved Zoey. He sighed again and followed his new found family out to the front of the Burger Tank.

"Shit!" Louis screeched, making the heads of several infected turn their direction. The outside was swarming with the zombie like people. His automatic snapped off and he shot down a few that were running in their direction, including one that had lunged for Bill.

"Thanks soldier." He grunted in Louis's direction. "We can go up that lift and then onto the roof to get in that storehouse." Bill gestured across lot.

"Why can't we just hop the fence and go the short way to the next safe room?" Francis shot out. Louis laughed as Zoey rolled her eyes.

"I knew some people who tried that. They got electrocuted. The fences are electric, I do not know how strong though. Plus if you go over the fence, there are more infected than on the quarantined side. They wander remember Francis?" Louis watched as Zoey gently hit Francis in the shoulder, then watched as Francis stared longingly after Zoey as she followed Bill to the lift.

"You will get your chance someday man, once we get out of this hellhole." Louis whispered as he gently brushed by Francis to follow the other two.

"I do not like Zoey!" Francis whisper-yelled. Louis laughed lightly and rolled his eyes.

"Come on you slow pokes!" Zoey yelled over her shoulder as she walked past the gas station. Louis eyed the pumps, thinking that those would be beneficial if there was a horde in this general area.

"Bill, do you think if we shot those a few times they would explode?" Apparently Francis thought the same thing that Louis was.

"Probably son. Let's hope we don't have to find out." Bill responded gruffly.

Louis jumped onto the lift, then turned around and helped Bill stumble on. Louis always felt really bad for Bill because of the shrapnel that tore up the knee Louis once hit with the butt of his gun by accident.

"Let's go." Zoey whacked the button to start the lift, then groaned as it clanked up really slowly. And loudly. Louis grimaced as the familiar screams of an oncoming horde reached their ears. "Get ready boys." Zoey yelled over the noise as the lift shuddered to a stop just as the first zombies came into view, dropping from the roof above them.

Louis's gun seemed to shoot automatically, every infected that ran in his path falling with a thud.

"Yow!" A sharp punch on the back jolted Louis around, and he was surprised to see several infected either on the lift or making their way up the ladder. He grunted, whirled around, and held down the trigger, killing the infected right before they made it to him.

It seemed like a lifetime until the horde finally diminished into just the few stragglers. Louis breathed a sigh of relief and noticed that Zoey did the same. He raised his eyebrow in question at her.

"I hate killing them because I know that this isn't their fault and they are just doing the only thing they know how to do anymore."

"They are animals Zoey. They will kill you if you don't kill the first." Francis murmured. Bill nodded in a agreement.

"Francis is right Zoey. There is no need to feel that bad about it, but it is natural. If you feel like this is normal, then you know you have gone insane. I have experience on the field, and this is ten times worse."

"Can we get moving?" Louis pushed past them all and ran across the roof, not liking the feeling of the thin metal bending slightly beneath his weight. He shivered as he walked along the pipe that was next to the window.

Louis hated heights.

"Looks like we are gonna haveta drop through the floor." Francis growled. Louis watched as Francis jumped down to the next floor, landing lightly on the balls of his feet. Louis tried to copy, but ended up stumbling, having to catch himself on the wall.

"Hey look, pain pills." Zoey walked over to the red med box. She picked up the bottle of pills and checked the expiration date on the top. Happy that they were satisfactory, she slid them into her pocket.

"Ammo here." Louis softly said from the desk. He took out his Uzi and reloaded it with a fresh magazine. He grabbed a few spare, shoving them in the pockets of his torn up work pants.

"Ready?" Bill called from the doorway which led into another hallway.

"Ready." The other three responded.

"Then let's go." They walked into the hallway, noticing how it was basically a bunch of offices behind the doors.

"This way guys." Louis whirled around, following Zoey down the stairs. His gun whipped up as a soft sob reached his ears.

"Witch!" Louis shuddered. He had almost been taken out by a witch earlier that week, when they had thought it was another survivor that was crying.

"Lights off!" Whispered Zoey. Louis followed her line of sight and saw the soft gray-red of the witch huddled off to the side, her body bobbing back and forth as the sobs racked her small frame.

"We can go around her this way." Bill motioned off to the side, past the other shelves of boxes. The survivors made their way cautiously anyway.

The different witches always had different definitions of 'personal space.'

Once the four made their way across the storage room, Louis heard the faint growl of a Hunter. "Move Zoey, there's a Hunter." Louis was really protective of Zoey; she reminded him in a way of his little sister, Nicole.

Louis poked his head around the corner, wincing as the sudden light burned his eyes. The Hunter's growl got much louder, and it shrieked. Louis threw his arms up, batting the Hunter away unintentionally. He shot the dazed Hunter until it gave the little, pitiful shriek that meant it was dead.

Shaking a little, Louis reluctantly led the way through the next few hallways. He had never told anyone, but he was claustrophobic. And the tight hallways were making him feel trapped.

"Louis, you okay?" He looked down at his right shoulder to see Zoey standing there, her eyes wide with concern.

"Yeah, just a little claustrophobic, and considering we are probably going underground…" He trailed off, shaking a little at the thought.

"You will be okay. I highly doubt that you will even have time to think about that, considering there will probably be quite a few infected down there." Zoey gave Louis a reassuring smile, then she led them down the next few flights of stairs.

"Holy shit!" Louis dashed down the next stairs, right on the heels of the other two men.

"What? Shit!" Louis cried. The room was swarming with zombies.

"Anyone got a pipe bomb?" Zoey's frantic voice whispered.

"Here. GRENADE!" Francis flicked on the pipe bomb and chucked it, watching as the seemingly endless tide of infected rushed to the homemade explosive. Louis noticed the way that Francis covered Zoey for when it exploded.

_Francis and Zoey sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…_Louis shook his head to get the annoying kid song out of his head.

"Come on lovebirds." Louis laughed at the way Francis and Zoey's faces turned the exact shade of red as they followed Bill. Shooting a quick glance over his shoulder, Louis followed them over to a manhole placed in the floor.

"We got to jump down." Louis sighed, annoyed at Bill's words. He really hated jumping down about eight feet onto the next level DOWN.

_I shouldn't be complaining. I'm not the one with the busted knee. _Went through Louis's head.

He grunted as they all landed rather awkwardly on the soft ground.

"And I thought the subway smelled bad." Zoey grimaced. Louis agreed. It was an odd mixture off dirty diapers and rotting fish and eggs.

"Holy fuck! What is that smell?" Francis made a gagging motion as the smell, obviously, reached his nose.

"The smell of the sewer son." Bill gruffly responded, his face twisted into a grimace as well. "Duck."

Louis bent at the knees, and felt the bullet whiz over his head, hearing the slight pop as a zombie's head exploded, showering him in brain goop.

"Oh yuck!" Louis cursed, wiping his face off, rolling his eyes as more blood splattered onto his white, stained shirt.

"Guy's this way! Let's go before there is another horde!" Zoey yelled at the guys. Louis scampered to his feet, following Zoey up the small hill of shit.

"Fuck!" Louis ran around the corner, only to see Zoey entangled in a Smoker's tongue, his claws scratching at her back, making her yelp in pain. Louis raised his gun, only to have the Smoker's head explode. Louis turned and saw Francis's gun smoking.

Then Francis disappeared. Louis flipped back around to see him by Zoey's side, checking her gashes over, disinfecting and wrapping them up. Louis shared a look with Bill, making them both crack into similar grins.

"Weapons in here." The group walked into the small room, to see fully loaded guns laid out haphazardly on one of the cable tables. Louis picked up the hunting rifle, balancing it in his hands, testing the weight and balance. It felt good.

Louis turned, feeling the others start towards the EXIT tunnel. A soft burping was heard. Louis's ears perked up.

"Guys wait!" He cried, only to hear a barfing sound, followed by gunshots, and the moanings of both his friends and of the infected. He spun on his heel to see a hole in the metal door, zombies pounding on the door.

Louis furiously shot it as the painful shrieks from Zoey and the grunts from Francis and Bill reached his ears. He would NOT lose any of them because they got barfed on by a Boomer. Not again…

"_Louis!" The man in question whirled around, his pistol wavering. He grabbed the hand of his fiancé, scrambling so his work shoes wouldn't slip on the ground. Louis didn't even want to think of what coated the asphalt. _

"_Louis! I can't do this! We need to find a place please?" Marissa pulled on Louis's arm. _

"_Babe we can't! We have to keep moving! Do you really want to get attacked again?" Louis cried, throwing his arms in the air. Sure, he loved his fiancé, but she could be so aggravating sometimes. _

_Louis watched the wheels turning in her head, making her eyes blaze with a fire he had never seen. "Give me a pistol." She ordered, sticking her hand out. "You taught me how to shoot it, and I will not allow you to protect me when I can cover both our asses." _

_Louis obeyed, then planting a kiss firmly on Marissa's lips. "Stay close." _

"_I will." Louis smiled, grabbing her hand and running around the street corner. "There!" Louis looked to where his wife-to-be was pointing. It was one of those hole in a wall bars. It was being hastily boarded up, and frequent sounds of gunshots echoed down the street. _

"_Let's go then." Louis pulled Marissa down the street, not hearing the gurgling sounds until it was too late. _

"_Get this stuff off of me!" Marissa stumbled against Louis, wiping her eyes frantically. _

"_Hey babe, ack!" Louis raised his pistol, shooting into the oncoming infected that were stumbling over their feet. "Marissa, don't let go hon! Don't let go!" Louis felt her latch onto his arm._

_Then she was gone. "MARISSA!" Louis screamed into the horde, searching for his love. He heard her screams and frantic shots as someone grabbed his arms and yanked him away. "LET GO YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Louis yelled, punching whoever was grabbing him in the face._

"_You will fucking die if you go out there damn it! That hurt!" Louis heard the faint click as a door closed, and the deafening sounds of a horde were cut off. _

"_I DON'T CARE YOU DICK HEAD! MY FIANCÉ IS OUT THERE ALONE!" _

"_She's the one who attracted the damn fucking horde! She got barfed on by a Boomer! That attracts the horde! You are lucky to be alive! Your girl is dead! Face it!" Louis snarled, and launched himself at the big biker, punching his nose, only to result in a black eye for Louis. _

"Louis! Man it's over!" Louis shook himself out of his daze, looking at Francis's hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry. I was thinking about…"

"Well we have to go." Francis motioned to the exit, where Bill was having his knee wrapped up by Zoey.

"Come on." Louis followed the group into the tunnel, following them in a haze as they reached the ladder that led to the front of the hospital.

"Let's pray that there isn't a lot of people up here. I don't think I could survive another horde." Louis looked at Bill in shock, then noticed the blood that was slowly seeping through his shirt.

"Man, heal up." Bill turned a sad face to Louis.

"No one has enough materials to tend to me yet. I think I can make it across the street however."

"Then you go up after me big guy." Francis gently patted Bill on the back before climbing up the ladder. Bill followed, slowly. Zoey shimmied up the ladder, and Louis took a quick look around before going up the ladder to the fresh air above.

"Fresh air! Hey look at that! There is no people up here! Thank the Lord!" Louis cried, throwing his hands in the air.

"Hey man, hush up. You do not want to bring another horde on us like you did before." Francis snarled as they made their way to the front doors of the hospital.

"Oh God!" Zoey cried, throwing her hands up to her face. Right behind the ambulance was a mountain of bodies, scattered all throughout the emergency entrance.

"What happened here?" Louis managed to choke out. The blood was dried up, the bodies slowly decaying.

"We won't know. Come on." Bill led the slow walk to the safe room, slamming the door behind them, locking the outside and Louis's memories out where they should be.


	5. The Hospital

**Next chapter: the hospital. I am taking down the rating for this story because it is not as bad as I thought it would be, I kind of need more ratings, and just cause I think I should. Please review. And the next (and last) chapter will be written in POVs.**

Bill sagged against the wall, the pain in his body excruciating. Every breath hurt, and all he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep. But the faces of his teammates, his new family, made him stay alive. He had to.

"What's wrong Bill?" Zoey crouched before him, her big blue eyes wide open in concern.

"Ribs, chest. And knee." He managed to ground out. He unbuttoned his green shirt painfully, revealing the red bloodstains. He heard Zoey's sharp intake of breath.

"Shit! Motherfucker!" Bill yelled as Zoey gently prodded his ribs.

"Fractured." He heard her whisper over the haze of pain.

"Just fix it." He growled through clenched teeth, sweat dripping down his face.

"Bill, you gotta take off your shirt…" Zoey trailed off when she saw the face Bill gave her. Instead, she rolled his shirt up enough so that the gashes on his ribs were showing. "Shit." he faintly heard Louis whisper from the counter where he was dressing a slash on his leg.

"You will be okay old man. Not gonna let you die." Francis said from the table that had ammo haphazardly laid out. Bill watched him reload the shotgun on his lap. He tried to block out the pain that was ripping through his sides as Zoey cleaned up the gashes.

"They aren't too deep, and it looks like the bleeding stopped a little while ago, but your left rib is definitely fractured, but I need to tape up your ribs. Please Bill?" He looked back to Zoey, her eyes wide, hands a little bloody.

"Do it quick." He grunted, looking away as she got out gauze, antibacterial gunk, and medical tape.

"Alright, now this is going to hurt." Zoey warned as she took a towel and dumped the alcohol on it.

"SHITASSFUCKDAMNIT!" Bill screamed, drawing several infected to the safe room door. Bill faintly heard Francis pump them full of lead.

"Sorry." Zoey whispered, moving to dab the gashes again. Bill's arm reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Listen here missy. If you do that again, I assure you, something horrible will happen." he growled menacingly, well as menacingly as someone with his shirts hiked up around his neck and sweat mixed with some tears could be.

"Alright, no need to spaz." Zoey mumbled, taking some gauze and taping it over the cuts, then wrapping med tape all around Bill's ribs, tightly. "Better?" She asked, stepping back to admire her handiwork.

Bill stood cautiously. He reached to pull his shirt down, and the movement didn't hurt that badly. Before, it would have racked him with pain if he had even tried to stand.

"Yes, thanks Zoey." He mumbled, leaning over to grab his gun, trying to make his way over to the door.

"Hell no old man. Rest some, you two as well." Francis barred the way to the door, ignoring the zombie arms that were poking through. "Go." Francis barked. Bill reluctantly laid down on the couch they had propped against the other safe room door.

Within moments, he was deep asleep.

"Bill, Bill, WILLIAM WAKE UP DAMNIT!" Bill groggily jumped up, fist ready to hit whatever had woken him up. "Don't hit me!" As the haze cleared, Bill saw Louis standing in front of him, hands raised in surrender.

"What?"

"Time to get going." Louis said, standing up and downing the rest of a water bottle, chucking it into the garbage bin. He tossed a granola bar and a bottle at Bill, which he swallowed down fast.

"I'm with ya." Bill said, standing. With food, water, and rest, his achy ribs and chest didn't hurt as much.

"Then let's do this." Francis stated, dropping the bar of the safe room door lightly on the ground. He gently pushed the door open, shooting the infected from both the front and the back as they rushed him.

Bill waited until everyone else had come out of the safe room before moving forward himself, wincing a bit as the movements pulled at his bandages, but he blocked the pain.

Being in a war did that to you.

Bill watched as Zoey slowly closed the doors shut to a few rooms, making sure the infected in those rooms didn't notice. He watched as Francis poked his head into a hallway and shot about a round. Bill faintly heard thumps of bodies hitting the floor.

"EEEEK!" Zoey screeched as she literally turned around and ran into an infected.

"Zoey!" Bill cried, dragging her back as Louis shot the infected. "You need to keep your mouth shut soldier!" He harshly told her. Zoey nodded, her face stricken as they faintly heard the incoming sounds of a horde, attracted to her screech.

He spun around, taking a knee, hearing Francis and Louis move to cover the stairwell as the screams and pounding footsteps of running infected grew louder.

"Get ready boys." Zoey said loudly as the infected charged from both sides. Bill frantically bat them away with the butt of his gun, stopping for a second to shoot down a few that got too close to Zoey.

"Thanks." She breathlessly panted after the last remnants of the horde were dead at their feet. She reached down and gently helped Bill to his feet.

"No problem Zoey." He grunted. Louis turned to them.

"I think that horde cleared out the second floor." He said, turning back to the stairwell, listening intently.

"Good. Now let's move people." Francis said, turning back to the stairs, basically leaping up them to the next floor. "You're right, there are no people up here."

"Francis, get your ass back down here!" Louis called softly.

"What?" He said, striding into view again.

"Come on people." Bill said, smirking a little at everyone's antics. He walked by them to start up the stairs until he hit the doorway, pausing, listening. A faint growling of impatience was heard.

"Let's keep moving." Louis brushed by them to go through the door to the hallway which led to a huge rotunda like room. Bill listened, on his toes, as the growling got louder with every step.

"Careful Louis." He warned, getting a look shot his direction.

"That growling is nowhere near us." Louis said confidently, walking up yet another flight of stairs onto the next level. "TANK!" He shouted, as the growling changed into a roar of anger.

The survivors leapt into action, Francis lighting and chucking the Molotov he had picked up earlier onto the second story, right in the direction of the charging Tank. It screamed in pain, but continued on through the volley of bullets.

"MOVE!" screamed Zoey, right as the Tank swiped at her. She ducked, and scrambled to regain her footing, just as the Tank punched her square in the chest with his huge fist, sending Zoey flying.

"ZOEY!" Francis yelled, shooting the Tank desperately, ducking and avoiding the flying fists. Louis and Bill continued to pummel the monstrosity with continuous gun fire. The Tank, however, just continued to move closer to where Zoey lay sprawled on the ground.

_Please don't let her be dead. Please Lord. _Bill prayed silently.

With a groan, the Tank fell to its knees, its breath escaping it with a moan as it lay there, flaming still. Bill limped over to where Francis was bending over Zoey, Louis on her other side.

"Zoey, Zoey, please? You gotta be alive darlin'. Please Zoey!" He heard Francis desperately saying to her form. Bill reached over, resting his hand on his shoulder.

"She's breathing Francis. Knocked unconscious, no internal bleeding, but most likely cracked ribs, maybe other broken bones, maybe a concussion from when her head hit the wall." Louis said. "We can't afford to wait here till she wakes up though." He said, looking at Bill and Francis.

"Carry her son." Bill said at last. Francis shot him a look, halfway between shock and despair.

"You sure?"

"I see the way you act with her. You can do this." Bill whispered.

"If you ladies are done, can we get Zoey and get out of here before another damn horde comes upon our asses?" Louis asked, sounding like he was asking them to go out for coffee later.

If coffee still existed.

Francis stood, gently pulling Zoey into his arms. "Um, what about her gun?"

"Damnit, she is not going to be happy if we have to leave it behind, but since no one can carry it…Leave it. Maybe a straggler survivor can use it." Louis ranted on.

"Good plan. Now can we get to the next damn safe room before I get pissed off and wring of your necks." Francis complained from where he was standing on the second level, waiting for them to hurry up.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch." Bill responded, smirking as Francis's face contorted into a scowl.

Once they were all standing in the same general area, the men fast walked to the stairwell, going back up to the fourth floor.

Bill knew this floor was most likely to have quite a few infected wandering the halls, considering this floor was basically room after room.

"Careful." He warned as Louis gently poked his head out the doorway, looking around, shooting a few wandering infected. Bill waited until Louis gave the all clear.

"Why haven't we run into any specials yet?" Francis murmured from behind Louis as they continued into the desk area, where Bill and Louis both shot down multiple zombies.

"I have been wondering that too. Maybe they decided to give us a break considering there was a Tank and we have a member who cannot fight right now." Louis said from the front of their little group. Bill rolled his eyes at that.

"Oh yes, they are definitely not going to take this prime opportunity when we are all about to fall over and drop dead." Francis snorted sarcastically.

Bill let out a little laugh at that. But Louis was right. Nothing had attacked them brutally since they started through the hospital, minus the one horde.

"This way." Louis called lightly, from where he was standing near the ER, taking down a few more infected.

"This is seriously starting to freak me out." Francis whispered as the survivors made another turn. "But thank god there is a working elevator!"

Bill's head whipped up and he stared at the best thing invented since guns.

"Wha-??" All three men looked down simultaneously to see Zoey slowly, groggily blinking awake, squinting against the light.

"Zoey." Francis whispered. "How you feel."

"Like a fucking tank ran me over three times, but I am pretty sure I could stand…"She trailed off. "Oh my God an elevator!" She whispered, drawing a slight laugh from everyone else.

"Here, lean on me." Francis gently set Zoey on her feet. She stood, wavering a bit, leaning on Francis, but she was standing at least.

"Oh where the hell is my gun?" Francis and Bill pointed at Louis.

"He did it!" They chorused. Zoey shot him a glare, but they limped slowly over to the elevator.

"Let's pray nothing bad happens." Bill said, before slamming the up button. A creaking and groaning filled their ears, and they all grimaced at once as the sounds of a horde reached them.

"Oh….fuck."

"Nice way of stating the obvious Francis." Zoey said over the yells of the zombies.

They poured around the corner, the zombies shoulder to shoulder, filling the hallway. Bill grimaced, dropping to a knee, before letting a volley of bullets loose, thinning their numbers. The deadly gurgle of a Boomer was heard, followed shortly by a Hunter's screech and a Smoker's coughing.

"Damnit!" Louis cried. Bill spun, to see the whole wall on their right had collapsed, more zombies pouring in, the Boomer among them.

"Don't shoot in there!" Bill yelled, frantically trying to reload while the infected swarmed over to him. He yelled as their fists beat against his ribs, sending a shooting pain up his sides, enough to make him scream in pain.

"Bill!" He heard from the elevator doors, and with a familiar exploding sound, the infected surrounding him moving to swarm Francis and Louis, who were frantically trying to beat back the infected.

"Fuck!"

"Damn!"

"Assholes!"

Came from their lips in sync. It would have been almost comical except that Francis got pounced by a Hunter, then dragged through the wall by the Smoker.

If it hadn't been for Zoey, Francis would have been dead, as would have Bill.

_She loves him too._

Bill started shooting again, but the horde was much thinner now, only a few stragglers left. Pretty soon, there was only the occasional slow moving zombie. They all looked back as the elevator dinged, and they happily limped into the elevator, Bill hitting the topmost button that worked, floor 28.

"You guys alright?" Bill turned to the other three, his med pack in hand.

"I'm not." Zoey said from where she was sitting on the floor. Bill was at her side, waiting for her to tell him.

"My head, my ribs, my ankle." Spewed out of her mouth.

"Then stay still." Bill grumbled, rolling up her pants leg to wrap her ankle. "I can't do anything about your head, but you are gonna have to take off your jacket." Zoey did that with out question, not caring about anything but taking the pain away. "And roll up your shirt."

She did that too, and surprisingly, both Louis and Francis didn't look, most likely for fear that Zoey or Bill would pummel them.

And Bill just didn't care.

"Here. Might want to put your shirt back on darlin'." Francis said as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Bill waited until Zoey had her jacket back on before turning back around and following the others who were picking off as many infected as possible.

That's when they heard it.

The soft, heart wrenching sobbing that screamed Witch.

"Damnit." Louis cursed. "No wonder why there's barely any infected."

"Just shut off your lights and hopefully we won't piss her off." Bill stated, helping Zoey as she limped after them. They continued through the mess of construction materials, walking around the metal support beams and the bags of plaster as the moans and sobs of the Witch grew louder.

"There." Louis motioned to the corner, where the Witch sat, heaving sobs raking over her sparsely clothed body.

No one knew what made the Witch, and no one really wanted to get close enough to ask.

"Safe room up ahead." Bill let out a sigh of relief as they saw the familiar, spray painted sign that pointed to their left.

"It's too far." Zoey mumbled. Bill gently nudged her forward.

"It's right there. You can do it." He said softly as Francis walked over to Zoey's other side, helping her forward as Louis opened the door, waiting for them.

"There." Bill gently helped lower Zoey onto the floor against a pile of construction cement. He turned back around to push a table and a few heavy microwaves against the door.

"I think we are all ready for a well deserved rest." He said before sitting on the ground leaning back against the wall, his eyes snapping shut and falling asleep.


	6. The Rooftop

**Last chapter. After this, read Aftermath. I'm going to change it and make it the sequel for all this, but it is not finished by far. Anyway, this part is going to be told in POVs, most likely Zoey's through the whole chapter, but maybe with a little Francis or Louis or Bill thrown in. Please review my lovelies.**

FPOV

As we collapsed on the ground and against the walls, my eyes flickered over to Zoey. She was leaning against the pile of cement or whatever the hell it was. Her eyes were closed tight, and her breathing seemed…off. Like it pained her to breathe.

Honestly, that little fact bothered me so much.

"How bout we sleep tonight?" I heard Louis groan from next to Bill, who was already asleep and slightly snoring.

"I'll take first watch." Louis nodded, yawning.

"Wake me in four hours." I nodded, sitting on a bag on cement, leaning my head wearily against the wall. I heard the snores from Louis and Bill, and the heavy breathing of Zoey.

_This is not fair. That shouldn't have happened to her, what has Zoey done to deserve that much pain? I am the one who deserves that, for my past. _

In fact, I would do anything I could to take the pain away from her if I could.

_What are we going to do once we get to the roof? Is there a radio? Will the helicopter be there? What if we sit there too long, attracting a horde or ten? What if we attract Tanks? _

The questions ran through my head like lightning, and I shivered knowing I didn't know any of the answers. Hell, I don't even know the layout of the damn roof! How are we supposed to survive if we don't even know what it looks like?

_What if there are schematics in here? _That train of thought made me leap to my feet, looking around the room for a layout of the roof top.

"Damn." I hissed. There was only a drawing of what the next level up looked like.

Well there goes my time.

I walked over to where the med kits and ammo were. I cleaned out my shot gun, fully loading it, reloading my pistols as well. I refilled my med kit, shoving more extra ammo in there, as long as some in the pockets on my vest.

Ah, my leather vest. One of the best things in the whole damn world. It hadn't gotten ripped or torn or anything in the past three weeks of this hell.

How the hell had this epidemic started? Was it livestock like they all thought? Was it a human, infected with a mutated strand of a normal sickness, like a cold?

How many immune…scratch that. How many non infected were there? Was it just the military? Or were there other immune? Or were there people who weren't immune, but in a safe zone?

"Too many fucking questions." I snarled, sitting back down on the cement bag, bored to hell. My eyes flicked over to Zoey again.

_Even under the bruises, cuts, and bandages, she still is really good looking…wait, this girl is much younger than you. She is barely twenty, and you are 35. You cannot be thinking along those lines Francis. You will not end up falling in love again. You remember how well that turned out last time. _

_Yeah, I remember the heartache perfectly, even if it was way back when I was 16. _

I shot my eyes over to the clock that hung on the wall crookedly. It had been about four hours already, so I walked over to Louis and whacked his head. He comically woke up, startled, then shot a glance at the clock himself.

"I think we should go around nine or so." I looked back at the clock. It was only about five in the afternoon.

"Sure."

With that, I laid down, and promptly fell asleep.

________________________________________________________________________

ZPOV

"Come on guys, we gotta get moving." I faintly heard, followed by a slight shaking of my shoulders. My hand that was clutching my pistols flew up automatically, and I felt someone lower them.

"Whoa Zoey, it's me."

"Who the hell is me?" I grumbled, blinking the remains of sleepiness out of my eyes, the image of Francis coming clearer.

Ah, Francis….

"Feel any better?" I tested my body, stretching to feel for the pains. My ankle felt a little better, and my head didn't hurt anymore, but a sharp pain ripped through my ribs.

"Yowch." At the concerned look Francis gave me, I continued. "Ribs hurt, everything else is just little aches."

"That's good, right?" I smirked.

"Yes."

"Well, we are getting ready to go, so you ready?"

I groaned, standing shakily. Damn Tank. "Yeah. Are there any guns in here?" I asked, shooting a glare at Louis who tried, and failed, to look all innocent. I giggled.

"No, sorry darlin'." I sighed.

"It's fine, I guess I am subjected to use pistols for the rest of my natural life then." I said, throwing my arms around dramatically. The men laughed.

"Doubt that Zoey. There are probably guns on the roof, especially if they tried to stock this place up. Look, they have Molotovs and pipe bombs galore already made. It's like they made them for us, not them." Bill said. I looked around the room, noticing some splashes of blood on the walls.

"Was there a body in here?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"I don't think so."

"Whatever, let's go." I brushed by them to the saferoom door. There were several bodies outside, and I assumed that they had just been shot recently. Dropping the bar on the floor, I gently pushed open the door. Francis went first, followed by Louis, me, and Bill. We walked up the stairs to fins ourselves in a hallway crawling with infected.

"Check the rooms. It wouldn't be smart to have extra infected behind us." Bill stated, going into a room and shooting several infected. We all followed his lead, and shortly after, we were standing in front of open elevator doors, the familiar coughing of a Smoker reaching us.

"Where the hell now?" Louis asked, genuinely confused.

"There." I shot the air grate on the side of the elevator, making it crumple and the pieces flew. "Go through. There are a few ladders over there."

"SHIT!" He shrieked as the Smoker's tongue managed to grab him, dragging him over the edge of the elevator doors.

"Louis!" I cried, relieved when I saw his hands clutching the edge. "Bill help him." I ordered, shooting desperately in the direction of the Smoker that was trying to climb up the ladder.

Why the hell can infected climb ladders, but they can't open doors?

"Nice shot Zoey." Francis remarked as the Smoker exploded with a cough and a cloud of ugly green smoke. I could smell it from here.

"Back on solid ground. Thanks Bill."

"Let's go ladies." Francis said from the other side of the little grate. I followed him, slipping through the grate, shimmying up the ladders, grateful when Francis put his hand down to help me up.

"Thanks." I said, as we made it onto the roof. "This is creepy." Francis nodded at my statement, looking to the sky.

Rain poured down, clouds obscured the moon partially, but its light still shone through. Lightning cracked across the sky, bringing ominous thunder rumbling across the rooftop.

"There any infected down there Francis?" I whirled around on my good foot to see Bill standing behind me, Lois next to him. As Francis moved, I turned around to see him walking to the edge of the roof we were on.

"Nope, all clear, but it is going to be difficult getting down."

"What?" I asked, wiping my hair away from my face as the rain plastered it to me.

"We are gonna haveta drop, not far only about ten feet or so, cause the ladder fell. Then we got another drop onto the actual roof.

"Oh yeah, because Bill who had a bum knee and me with a sprained ankle are definitely going to be able to drop twice." I said sarcastically, twirling my pistols in that bad habit I had formed from watching movies.

"I'll go first, and help you all." Francis said, and before I could open my mouth to object, he had already fallen. I listened, hearing the noise of boots landing on concrete.

"Francis, you okay?" I asked, walking to the edge that he had fallen off of.

"Hell yeah. Your turn." I shook my head wildly.

"Hell no. What are you gonna do catch me?"

"Just fall already goddamnit." He said. I braced myself for pain, took aim, closed my eyes, and walked off the edge, to land in Francis's arms, making his breath whoosh out of his chest with an oomph.

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Move." He ordered, depositing me next to him. That's when I noticed what the layout of the roof was.

There was multiple mini buildings scattered across it. The landing pad was right next to us, and I gently managed to jump onto it.

"Holy shit." I murmured, as I looked down. The whole back corner of the helicopter pad was destroyed, something must have crashed into it.

"Zoey come on this way." I felt Louis grab my arm, pulling me away down the ramp to the little building right across from the pad.

"Mercy Hospital do you read me?" I heard, from a radio-sounding voice. The radio on the table proved to be true.

That's when I saw it.

A gun box. And it was filled.

"Oh thank heavens!" I cried, limping as fast as I could to the box. Inside was a hunting rifle, a machine gun, a shotgun, and what looked to be four pistols. On the outside of the box was a pile of ammo. I reached down, grabbing multiple pistol magazines, then a fully loaded shotgun.

"The pilot said to stock up and find a place for a stand off. Apparently, there is multiple hordes, or just one big one, and multiple pick ups have failed because of that." Louis said from where he was standing by the ammo.

"How bout the stairwell?" I asked after about a minute of brainstorming. My thinking was that there weren't any walls big enough for them to break down, and there were only two entrances, which meant that two of us could guard each one.

"That's a good idea. Alright Francis, call the pilot back. Me and Louis will take the upstairs." Bill said, walking by us, his limp a little more pronounced. I watched as Louis stood behind Bill, who took a knee, closing the door, but keeping their guns up.

"Called him. Said he would be here in ten minutes." Francis grabbed my arm and pulled us into the stairwell, jostling my ribs a bit.

"Stay behind me." He whispered. I shook my head wildly, sending water droplets flying.

"No way Francis. I am still a kick ass shot, and I will crouch in front of you. Standing won't do much good for my ankle now, would it?" I saw reason grow in his eyes, and he nodded, letting my arms go.

"I'll protect you." Did he say that? I opened my mouth to respond, but any noise was cut off by the sound of an oncoming horde.

"Damnit!" I cried, dropping to a crouch and closing the door tightly, praying that maybe they would hold a little longer.

I raised the shotgun up, waiting, the shrieks and poundings growing closer, and heavier in volume.

"Here's a tip, don't get dragged off by a Smoker!" cried Louis right as their door completely broke down.

"Thanks!" I yelled as a hole emerged in our door and Francis started shooting. It startled me, causing me to back up into Francis's legs, causing him to chuckle a bit, before turning back into his angryness.

"There goes the damn door!" He yelled as it totally exploded as a Hunter scratched at it. I shrieked, shooting the Hunter wildly until it died.

"Nice shot." Francis yelled at me over the horde, batting away a few zombies that got too close to me, shooting them in the head, causing brain matter to explode all over me.

"Ew. Thanks."

"No problem."

"BOOMER!" Louis yelled. I strained my eyes to see into the darkness, spying the Boomer right before its green stinky puke flew out of its mouth, splashing me and covering my eyes.

"ICK! DAMNIT!" I screeched, wiping frantically at my eyes with my jacket's sleeve. I felt multiple hands beating me, and I shrunk back from them. Then they vanished, as I felt Francis beating them back, shooting them.

"Can you see yet?" I continued wiping my eyes. Then, finally, I could see again!

"Yes! Yes! Thanks!" I went back to shooting them, until the horde finally dwindled down.

"TANK!" Louis shrieked at the same time that the building started shaking, the telltale sign that the hulking infected was almost upon us. I reached onto my belt, grabbing the Molotov.

"Bill throw me your lighter!" I cried. Bill obliged, tossing me the lighter. I hastily lit the rag in the beer bottle, and ran outside the stairwell to the hospital's roof, where the Tank was coming in from the right. I threw the bottle, shattering it on impact, the fire spreading, the Tank catching.

Its screams of pain were killing my ears as I limped as fast as I could backwards, shooting the Tank all the while, until I was standing next to the men, in front of one of the little buildings, this one with pipes all over it.

After what seemed like eons, the Tank fell over, dead, his breath whooshing out.

"Back to the stairwell?" Louis frantically asked as the swarms of the horde came in.

"No time. Stand your ground!" Bill yelled. I dropped to a knee, shooting and hitting. Louis almost got taken by a Smoker, and Francis almost got pounced by a Hunter, and then I got dragged by a Smoker.

The thick tongue cut off all breath, and I was dragged into the middle of a horde of people. I tried to scream.

"ZOEY!" I heard, and the weight around my chest was gone, and I dropped to the ground in a heap, being kicked and punched by the zombies.

My pistols flew to my fingers, and I shot wildly, and eventually all of them fell, but not without quite a lot of pain from me. Blood seeped from multiple cuts and gashes, and my bones screamed in agony.

"TANK!" I heard someone cry, and I leaned my head back to watch as the guys ran by to the heli pad, the Tank ignoring me and running after them.

After eons of sitting there, bleeding my guts out, I heard the Tank fall, dead.

And the steady beats of a helicopter.

"Helicopter's here LET'S GO!"

Were they really going to leave me? I let out a moan in pain and loneliness. Footsteps came my way a moment later, and I lifted my guns, my arms shaking in agony.

"Zoey it's me. Can you stand darlin?" I shook my head, tears escaping in relief at Francis's voice.

"Come here." Suddenly, I was in his arms, jostling my bones. I let out a cry, and he cradled me to his chest.

Many jolts and aches later, we were on semi solid ground again, which I knew to be in the helicopter.

Francis's voice washed over me soothingly, luring me to sleep with a smile on my face, minus the pain.


End file.
